A CLEAN SLATE. The pro-LGBT New Hampshire Log Cabin Republicans are willing to give elected officials and candidates who have voted against or taken past positions opposed to their point of view another chance moving forward, the group’s chair says.>> Download the FREE WMUR appJim Morgan, who is also a business executive and Derry Town Councilor, told New Hampshire Primary Source on Wednesday that as the group tries to broaden its attraction to Republicans, gay and otherwise, it has adopted a “mantra” that essentially says: “Forgive but do not forget.”A case in point is the Log Cabin Republicans’ endorsement this week of former state Rep. Victoria Sullivan for mayor of Manchester. Sullivan’s critics have been pointing out on social media that she voted against legislation that prohibited conversation therapy to attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation. The bill passed and became law last year.She also opposed legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity – a “transgender rights” bill -- also signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu last year.“Our organization is in a party that has a history of votes against the LGBT community,” Morgan said. “Those we talk to who give us commitments that moving forward, they will understand our policies and our pathways, we give them the benefit of the doubt and a clean slate.”Morgan said, “We’re never going to reach the end of identity politics and the use of it unless we give Republicans a clean slate on their past and look toward their future. And the mantra is we can forgive but we don’t forget, meaning that we’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but moving forward you’re on the radar.”But Morgan said that as Republicans, the Log Cabin group will not support “every single bill” that Democrats may back.He noted that state Rep. Joe Alexander of Goffstown, an openly gay Republican, in September spoke on the House floor against overriding Sununu’s veto of legislation that would have made it easier for transgender men and women and those who don’t identify as either male or female to change their name and gender information on their birth certificates.“We don’t think we should be changing birth certificates,” Morgan said.“The underlying issue with the conversion therapy was telling parents what they could or could not do,” Morgan said. He said that philosophy is not specific to LGBT issues. “It’s about government getting involved in people’s lives.”At the same time, Morgan said, “We certainly don’t support using electroshock therapy” to try to prompt a child to change sexual orientation.But Morgan said the Sullivan endorsement was not about one vote or issues specific to LBGT rights. He said that with any candidate who may have voted in opposition to the Log Cabin position, “It’s about moving forward.”The endorsement was criticized by New Hampshire Democratic Party Raymond Buckley, who is openly gay.He wrote in a statement that the organization, by backing Sullivan, has shown “it has completely lost its way.”

A CLEAN SLATE. The pro-LGBT New Hampshire Log Cabin Republicans are willing to give elected officials and candidates who have voted against or taken past positions opposed to their point of view another chance moving forward, the group’s chair says.

Jim Morgan, who is also a business executive and Derry Town Councilor, told New Hampshire Primary Source on Wednesday that as the group tries to broaden its attraction to Republicans, gay and otherwise, it has adopted a “mantra” that essentially says: “Forgive but do not forget.”

A case in point is the Log Cabin Republicans’ endorsement this week of former state Rep. Victoria Sullivan for mayor of Manchester. Sullivan’s critics have been pointing out on social media that she voted against legislation that prohibited conversation therapy to attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation. The bill passed and became law last year.

She also opposed legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity – a “transgender rights” bill -- also signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu last year.

“Our organization is in a party that has a history of votes against the LGBT community,” Morgan said. “Those we talk to who give us commitments that moving forward, they will understand our policies and our pathways, we give them the benefit of the doubt and a clean slate.”

Morgan said, “We’re never going to reach the end of identity politics and the use of it unless we give Republicans a clean slate on their past and look toward their future. And the mantra is we can forgive but we don’t forget, meaning that we’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but moving forward you’re on the radar.”

But Morgan said that as Republicans, the Log Cabin group will not support “every single bill” that Democrats may back.

He noted that state Rep. Joe Alexander of Goffstown, an openly gay Republican, in September spoke on the House floor against overriding Sununu’s veto of legislation that would have made it easier for transgender men and women and those who don’t identify as either male or female to change their name and gender information on their birth certificates.